Moriya Christmas!
by Pikablukachu
Summary: Christmas comes to Gensokyo, starring your favourite Christmas-coloured shrine maidens! A confused Reimu gets roped into Sanae's festive scheming, and finds herself emotionally exasperated by the seemingly inescapable curse of mistletoe.


_**(Notes: Happy Holidays!**_

 _ **To round off a 2018 in which I finished /three/ Touhou stories, I thought I'd quickly whip up a fun Christmas fic too! Think of it as thankyou for all the amazing support I've gotten throughout the year.**_

 _ **First of all, this has no relation at all to "Crush (on) Your Rival". It's a separate story.**_

 _ **Part of my inspiration for this fic was the realisation that Reimu's red and Sanae's green made them a perfect Christmas couple. I love the idea of Reimu and Sanae wearing matching outfits with each others' colours, so I started the story based around that concept.**_

 _ **I had tons of fun writing this and it's more lighthearted and comedy-focused than anything else I've written lately, so I'm sure it'll be a really fun read.**_

 _ **As always, there will be a glossary at the end. Enjoy!)**_

* * *

 **x**

* * *

"Ho-kay... I'm ready."

Reimu Hakurei held out her arms and stared at them awkwardly. Then, at her torso.

Being clothed in dark green like this... it just didn't feel right. Now that she had actually changed, she could no longer fathom how she had ever allowed _anyone_ to talk her into it.

Sanae Kochiya, the fiend who had come up with this affront against nature, clasped her hands together as a delighted smile beamed from her face. Her eyes darted Reimu up and down, practically twinkling like stars as she admired the fruits of her hard-fought negotiations.

The famed 'red-white shrine maiden', Reimu Hakurei, was now dressed in green and white instead. A soft, dark green dress that cut off with a fluffy white trim just above her chest, with another fluffy white trim at the hem of the skirt. To make sure it remained on-brand, the dress was accompanied by long dark green sleeves - also adorned with fluffy white trim.

"You look soo good, Reimu! I had confidence you'd pull it off in style!" Sanae said; her bright, playful grin disguising an excited blush.

At least Sanae had allowed Reimu to keep her beloved red-white ribbon and hair-bands on. In fact, she had _encouraged_ it. What was it she said? 'The beautiful deep red of your ribbon and eyes contrasts the dark green dress perfectly!'

Ignoring the fact that she wasn't used to having her appearance complimented so candidly, Reimu stared with irritation at Sanae. The other shrine maiden was wearing an outfit that practically matched her own - just red instead of green, topped off with a cute red and white hat that looked a little like Doremy Sweet's.

Reimu had to admit though, the way the red of Sanae's dress contrasted her long, deep green hair was pretty pleasant on the eyes, as was the way the skirt showed off her legs, and how the top of the dress snugly hugged her ches-...

A-anyway! ' _N-Nope. I'm too irritated for thoughts this gay._ ' Reimu thought and blinked herself out of a brief stupor, remembering that she was supposed to be visibly annoyed.

Sanae, of course, wouldn't give Reimu any time to dwell on her irritation. "Look at _us_!" she couldn't keep herself from smiling as she pranced to Reimu's side and wrapped a friendly arm around her, squeezing them shoulder-to-shoulder. "We match perfectly! Smile for the camera, mkay?" the green-head winked and turned eagerly towards an approaching journalist woman.

"W-w-wait! No! I'm not emotionally ready!" Reimu defensively waved her hands in front of her face, forcing Sanae to zip behind her and restrain Reimu's wrists to her sides.

The black-haired journalist in a white blouse cackled to herself as she fiddled with her camera. "Fine by me! The less emotionally prepared you are, the more sensational the front page looks."

"Thanks, Aya." Sanae grinned as Reimu pouted, resentfully calming her arms and expression. Aya Shameimaru, the full-time tengu journalist who had a part-time irritation part-time friend relationship with both Reimu and Sanae, appeared to know exactly how to press Reimu's buttons.

Reimu hesitantly huddled up to a significantly more excited-looking Sanae's side, while Aya got a few nice shots of the shrine maidens stood together in front of a very festively decorated Moriya Shrine. Luckily for everyone involved, Reimu was perfectly capable of putting on a public face when she needed to.

"Thanks, thanks." Aya nodded and grinned, signalling Reimu to finally relax again and edge away from a Sanae who _really_ didn't seem to know the meaning of personal space today.

Sanae was quick to prance over to Aya, nosily looking at her camera. "So uh, when will the photos be done? Will they be in colour?"

"For the morning edition of the paper. And no." Aya said as she tilted her head and smiled sheepishly. "It's a shame since your colours _do_ compliment each other nicely, but I don't have one of those new-fangled cameras that you had back in the Outside World, Sanae."

"Doesn't stop Hatate..." Sanae pouted and crossed her red-gloved arms.

"Watch it, or I won't help you placate Reimu next time." Aya said, evidently irritated at Sanae's vague praise of her rival, before turning away and putting the camera in her bag. "See you! Good luck with this whole, uh... thing. I for one still think you're nuts for wanting to do this _and_ a New Year event."

Reimu turned and stared at Sanae with exasperation. "There's not gonna _be_ a next time, right?" she said, mentally exhausted at the mere thought of it. "You _are_ nuts, remind me why I agreed to this again?"

"Don't be a Grinch!" Sanae chirped breezily.  
"What's a Grinch...?" Reimu mumbled.

"Come on, lemme show you around!" Sanae excitedly hopped behind Reimu again and gave her a gentle shove in the direction of the shrine building. "Ever since I moved to Gensokyo, I always kinda missed the festive feeling of Christmas... so I thought this year I'd show everyone in Gensokyo how fun it can be!"

"Right, Christmas." Reimu trudged along the shrine grounds paving, which was being dusted by a fresh layer of lightly falling snow. Her eyes wandered around to see how much work Sanae had put into something that... didn't make _any_ sense to celebrate. "It's a Christian thing, right? What's a Shinto shrine maiden like you care about that for?"

"Eh? I mean, sure." Sanae gripped Reimu by the hand and theatrically waved her other hand towards a huge, green, and impressively decorated pine tree. "But in modern Japan, it's common to celebrate Christmas, especially Christmas Eve, as just a fun thing without worrying about the religious bits! Christmas trees! Lights!"

The tree was covered in all-manner of shiny baubles and bells and trinkets and... things. Silver and red fuzzy string thingies. A cute little star on top. A bunch of flashing lights... it _did_ look pretty, almost reminiscent of how the Human Village was decorated and lit up during festivals.

It was difficult for Reimu not to feel mesmerised for at least a brief moment, before she snapped back to reality again.

"Then there's fireworks too? Kogasa is helping with that!" Sanae grinned as she pointed over towards a familiar blue-haired karakasa obake. As usual, Kogasa was holding a purple umbrella with a long tongue, but was also somehow holding a scarily big box of fireworks as she smiled and waved back at them. "I'm gonna surprise _so_ many people with this!" Kogasa bragged, making Sanae giggle to herself while Reimu laughed awkwardly at how dangerous it looked.

Feeling a gentle tug on her sleeve, Reimu looked at Sanae who was now pulling something down between them on a branch of the Christmas tree. "Aaaand mistletoe! When someone catches you underneath it, like this..." she smiled awkwardly as she held it between them. It appeared to be a sprig of small stems and leaves with little white berries, tied together with a cute red ribbon. "...It means you have to kiss them!" Sanae edged closer to Reimu's face and winked playfully.

Reimu's eyes widened; then she blushed furiously and jumped back a little, making Sanae laugh. "U-uhuh... s-sorry I'll uh... I'll be more careful then." Reimu blubbered, as she pretended to be fascinated in a rock on the ground instead of the sprig.

"Then of _course_!" Sanae quickly changed the subject as she pointed at herself and at Reimu. "Santa Claus!"

"Santa Claus is that red old man?" Reimu darted her eyes to Sanae again as her head finally clicked what the point of these outfits was. "Didn't someone else dress up as-..."

"Yeah. That wicked hermit woman dressed up as Santa to rob people." Sanae pouted and tapped her finger on her arm. "But Santa is meant to be a kind old man who spreads love and joy and gifts! I even got Lady Kanako to dress up as Santa too, so kids can ask her for any gifts they might want!" the green-head gestured proudly over to the shrine building entrance, where Kanako Yasaka, the shrine's primary deity, was jovially letting smaller children from the village sit on her lap and talk to her. She was comically dressed in a full-body red and white Santa outfit herself, hat and all - even a fake white beard. In comparison, Reimu and Sanae's outfits were on the 'breezier' side.

Reimu scoffed for a moment, but then rubbed her chin as she thought it through a little more. It actually seemed like a deceptively ingenious way of gathering faith.

"Basically...!" Sanae grabbed Reimu's hand - AGAIN - and held both their hands into the sky victoriously. "I wanted to save Gensokyo's image of Christmas and Santa by doing something really fun for everyone! And romantic. Christmas is really romantic! Couples spend Christmas Eve together and give each other sweets and things!"

Romance... right. Another thing Reimu was fairly ill-experienced in. "You probably should have invited someone else if you wanted couples at your event. I'm not very... coupled."

"Oh, I dunno!" Sanae winked playfully, "maybe you'll catch someone cute under the mistletoe?"

Reimu's eyes lidded as she snatched her hand back from Sanae. She really wasn't convinced by the whole mistletoe thing... it just seemed like an invitation to social disaster, to her.

Okay, okay. Sanae was clearly motivated and it was actually kinda endearing to see her try to give Gensokyo something new to smile about, but... "But I'm wearing green instead of red? Why couldn't I just wear red like I usually do!?"

"Oh, that's cus red and green are the Christmas colours! Sometimes Santa dresses in green too, I think? Most importantly though... this way, we match and compliment each other~!" Sanae enthusiastically hugged Reimu to her side again.

Reimu shoved away from Sanae again, "B-but that doesn't explain why you asked _me_ , of all people, to help!" she grit her teeth, seeming even more annoyed than earlier.

The bright pink of Sanae's face from the cold weather made a good disguise for her blush, as she thought of how to respond for a moment. "W-well uh... I asked Myouren Temple to lend us Unzan and have him dress up as Santa instead of Lady Kanako... b-but Lady Byakuren wasn't interested and said she'd only allow it if I did a bunch of favours for her."

Okay. Reimu nodded. That _did_ sound like something that Buddhist temple's head monk would do.

"A-and!" Sanae pointed at another finger. "Miss Hina would have fit the colours perfectly, but we didn't want to cause any misfortune for the guests..." she poked her fingers together.

Reimu nodded, that was also a sensible decision.

A third finger "If Marisa did it, I worried we might have a repeat of the whole 'Santa robs people' problem..."

Another nod from Reimu, she crossed her arms and frowned.

"A-and uhm..." Sanae awkwardly tilted her head and stared at her hands. "I considered Miss Yuuka too b-but uh... w-well..."

Reimu let out a long sigh and finally relaxed slightly. Yeah, all the people Sanae had listed would have been _terrible_ ideas, and she couldn't blame Sanae at all for being too intimidated to ask that flower youkai for a favour.

"All right, I get it..." Reimu sat a hand reassuringly on Sanae's shoulder, before holding up her index finger. "But just this once, okay? And only cus it seems so important to you. Th-that and, it might be good for business!"

Appearing genuinely overcome with relief, Sanae held her hands to her chest and let out a deep breath. She tilted her head as she smiled. "Thanks, Reimu. I knew I could count on you, you're the best~!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Reimu sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Let's just uh... get on with making this a fun event for people, right?"

"Right!" the green-head nodded enthusiastically, and pushed Reimu in the direction of the festivities on the shrine grounds.

* * *

Perhaps the biggest challenge of this evening for Reimu wasn't having to change into a weird green costume, or even the fact that Sanae's lack of respect for her personal space was giving her way too many gay thoughts.

No, the worst part of the evening was the total lack of alcohol.

It was unbelievable! 'It's a family-friendly event' Sanae had insisted innocently, politely gesturing Reimu towards tables lined with weird colourful jugs of fruity drinks, bowls of punch, and heaps and heaps of fried chicken.

Fried chicken, to be fair, was apparently a Christmas tradition, and Sanae seemed pretty proud that she had gotten so much of it. Plus, while it tasted kinda weird compared to chicken Reimu had had before, it actually was pretty nice. Not something she'd want to do every day, but hey.

The lack of alcohol during a festive winter event though? Not even any _mead_!? Dealing with intrusive thoughts (like how attracted she was to Sanae today) became _way_ more difficult when faced with the insurmountable obstacle of sobriety.

Reimu dramatically rolled her eyes and held her hand to her forehead, as her brain alleged convincingly that she could pass out at any second if she didn't get some drink in her.

"Well well, good evening green Santa!" came a familiarly egotistical voice from nearby. It failed to catch the attention of a still red-wired Reimu as she strolled around the shrine grounds by herself, distracted by the beautiful fireworks display.

" ***Ahem*** " came a faux-polite sounding throat clear. "Reimu, she's addressing you."

"Eh? Me?" Reimu suddenly span her head to see three women staring at her; an attention-hungry vampire, a politely waving maid, and a grinning gatekeeper. Catching her own green arm-glove in the corner of her eye, Reimu suddenly remembered ' _oh yeah, I'm green now._ '

The short, haughty vampire with light-blue hair and a frilly white and red dress waved cheerfully towards the shrine maiden. "I must say, I am pleased the fates deigned it appropriate for me to have some time free from my busy schedule today, for I did so miss Christmas." she chortled to herself behind her hand. As always, the only thing more striking than her devilish bat-like wings was her self-important attitude.

Reimu's eyes lidded, "Busy schedule. Uhhuh." she snarked. "You're a fan of Christmas then, Remilia?"

"Somewhat!" Remilia Scarlet, pleased by Reimu's invitation to talk more about herself, put one fist on her hip and held the other out proudly. "People like to brag about how vampires are weak to crosses and such, but not me! Christmas simply makes me nostalgic about Europe. Have you ever been to Europe, Reimu?"

"Uhm, what do _you_ think?" Reimu said as she slouched slightly, becoming more annoyed again.

"Relax, Reimu." the silver-haired maid, Sakuya Izayoi, tilted her head and smiled politely. "She's only messing with you."

"I'm not a fan of being messed with." Reimu put her fists on her hips. "I've already been messed with enough tonight as it i-"

"Ooh, here's the red Santa too!" the red-headed gatekeeper in a long green Chinese dress, Hong Meiling, suddenly interrupted and called out. Reimu jumped slightly when she felt a pair of warm hands grab onto her shoulders from behind and... gently massage them!?

"Who's messing with you tonight, Reimu?" Reimu heard Sanae's playful voice from behind her. "No one messes with my co-host!"

Reimu's face scrunched slightly to hide her own blush. "You, among others."

"Ooh, my bad!" Sanae giggled awkwardly, pulling her hands off Reimu's shoulders quickly. "I'm not taking back the amazing costume idea though. Having a nice evening, everyone?"

"Quite." Remilia nodded calmly. "It's a decent and nostalgic event you've put together here, not that bad for a modern Japanese girl."

"That's a pretty big compliment, coming from her." Sakuya whispered loudly to Sanae and winked, making Sanae blush and smile a proud relief. Sakuya continued, "By the way... aren't you two cold, dressed like that?"

Reimu and Sanae briefly looked at each other, and mutually grinned in amusement.

"A little, yeah." Reimu shrugged "But we're used to dressing lightly even in winter, so this doesn't feel too different to usual."  
"Yet another thing that me and Reimu have in common!" Sanae playfully bantered and leaned her arm on Reimu's shoulder.  
"We don't have _that_ much in common." Reimu blushed, trying to edge away from her again.

Meiling giggled quietly to herself in reaction, prompting Reimu to side-eye the gatekeeper. "By the way, Meiling. With that red hair and green clothes, you're pretty 'Christmassy' yourself... you wanna take over for me?"

"Wh- _me_!?" Meiling frowned in confusion, scratching the side of her head. "I... really don't know much about Christmas myself, besides some of Lady Remilia's yearly traditions, if I'm being honest."

Reimu shrugged, "That makes two of us, this year's my first Christmas."

Sakuya raised an eyebrow and looked from Reimu to Sanae, who appeared to be staring at the maid with a... pleading expression? Noticing this, Sakuya piped up. "Apologies, Reimu. I'm afraid Meiling is far too busy acting as Lady Remilia's back-up maid this evening."

"I am?" Meiling's eyes widened.  
"She is!?" Remilia gasped.

Sakuya nodded, holding a fist to her chest dramatically. "Yes... for you see, I have a dire weakness for fruit punch. If I let my guard down for just one second, I am suddenly much too high on sugar to reliably or properly see to my poor mistress' needs."

Sanae's eyes lidded at how ridiculously unbelievable Sakuya's excuse was, but a brief look around told her that _somehow_ everyone had actually bought it. Remilia and Meiling both stared at the silver-haired maid with expressions of concerned shock. "Are you gonna be okay..." Meiling quietly mouthed to Sakuya.

"Well." Reimu, also somehow convinced, kept her hands on her hips. "This is a family-friendly event as Sanae says, so the punch is fair game... but if I catch little miss vampire with her teeth in any human kids? I'll beat the shit out of all of you."

Remilia and Sakuya laughed to themselves loudly and merrily, while Meiling awkwardly chuckled behind Sakuya, almost seeming to shrink in size slightly. Reimu knew them all well enough that this reaction made her smile a little to herself too.

"As much as I miss our little tests of wit, Reimu." Remilia said as she theatrically held a hand to her chest, "I think I had best refrain... you seem as though you may be too busy for that sort of thing." she winked, pointing with a grin to something above Reimu's head.

"Eh?" Reimu's eyes slowly wandered from Remilia's finger to the space above her head. There was a small sprig of green stems and leaves with small white berries, tied with a red ribbon...

In a confused daze, Reimu's eyes drifted next to her to see Sanae's sheepish, innocently blinking face.

" _GAAH!_ " Reimu yelped a scream in a pitch that was much too high for a woman her age, as she reflexively slapped the mistletoe from the branch above her head in a panic. She panted heavily, her face red, while Sanae awkwardly giggled to herself.

"A-ah...!" came a quietly surprised gasp of exclamation. The sprig of mistletoe had somehow been smacked right onto the green hat on Meiling's head. Reimu stared at her, blinking, her hand still tellingly in front of her from slapping it. "I-I uh... sorry..."

"Let me get that for you, Meiling." Sakuya neatly wiped her hands on a tidy cloth, before quaintly gripping the collar of Meiling's top and assertively tugging the tall woman lower until their faces met. Meiling blushed furiously through a shy smile. "H-here...?"

Then, without a second of hesitation, Sakuya pressed her lips to Meiling's, her hand still gripping Meiling's collar. Remilia and Sanae both covered their bright red faces with their hands, as Meiling wrapped her arms around Sakuya and happily kissed her back.

Reimu just kind of... stared, in disbelief. But she also spotted her chance to slip away again - and took it.

* * *

It wasn't as though Reimu was avoiding Sanae or anything. In fact, it had actually been Sanae's idea to split up and both help guests at different parts of the party. They could cover more ground that way! Plus, Sanae figured Reimu would appreciate the opportunity to appreciate what made Christmas fun by herself too.

But things had felt so... weird, tonight? Sanae was being weird, or Reimu was overthinking it because Sanae seemed cuter than usual. Or maybe the fact Reimu thought Sanae was cuter than usual was the weird part. No, the weirdest part was that Reimu didn't really even _know_ about this mistletoe tradition before today, and _twice_ already she had been under it with Sanae.

Reimu was sat by herself in the snow, hunched over slightly with her elbows on her crossed legs and her chin in her hands. She was sat near one of the impressive, deep green and decorated pine trees that had been set up and decorated around the Moriya Shrine grounds, and had checked it multiple times for mistletoe before even _thinking_ of sitting there.

"I was going to ask if I could join you, but you don't even have a blanket to use for sitting on this cold snow?"

Reimu must have been utterly lost in daydreams - because her back jolted upright when she heard a deep voice she didn't expect. "Y-Yuuka!?" she almost fell backwards into the pine needles behind her, a couple of them lightly scratching her bare shoulders and upper-back. "The heck are you doing here?"

"Hm?" Yuuka Kazami, the formidable flower youkai, tilted her head and smiled gently. The combination of her light green hair, red eyes and smart red-plaid waistcoat and dress made her look surprisingly festive herself - but this was just what she normally wore. She delicately set a red and white-plaid blanket down on the snow and sat next to Reimu. Curiously, she kept her parasol propped up to keep pine needles off of her hair and clothes. "Not here to cause any trouble, certainly."

Reimu sighed, relaxing just slightly. "I was gonna say, there are human families and kids here today. Just... don't do anything to make me need to keep an eye on you, all right?"

"Oh, you know me." Yuuka hummed gently, but seemed to wince just slightly as a pine needle lightly fell from the tree and hit her parasol. "I prefer to keep to myself anyway. I simply came today because I thought I may see some plants and flowers you do not normally find in Gensokyo."

Oh, right. That made sense. They were sitting underneath a Christmas pine tree, right? You didn't get trees like this in Gensokyo very often. Reimu's eyes curiously perked up a little. "So what's the verdict? See anything interesting?"

Yuuka turned her head to Reimu, smiling, but evidently quite uncomfortable. "My verdict is you've chosen quite an unpleasant place to sit. Most of these Christmas flowers and plant props are just that... props. Plastic."

"P-plastic!? S-so this pine tree..." Reimu jerked around in surprise and looked at the tree.

"Fir tree." Yuuka corrected Reimu. "Everyone calls them pine trees, but the most common type of Christmas tree used around the world is typically fir. Or for artificial ones, fir- _styled_."

"Huh." Reimu easily accepted Yuuka's correction. Sure enough, even though some of the bristles had fallen off they were still ultimately just... plastic. "They're surprisingly convincing until you touch them. I suppose the fakeness is appropriately gaudy for Sanae, though..."

"It is a shame." Yuuka sighed wistfully. "But you cannot blame her. Plastic ones are very common for their convenience, and many traditional Christmas plants are typically more common in the west than Japan to begin with. Even though the nikko fir _is_ native to Japan, it typically grows in some of Japan's more rainforest-like areas... so they don't seem to grow in Gensokyo."

Yuuka's knowledge on plants was formidable as always. Or perhaps the old youkai had simply seen more of Japan than Reimu had realised... it had still been less than 150 years since Gensokyo was separated from the Outside World, after all.

The flower youkai continued to muse on, as if thinking aloud "... Not to mention that to get any of these props into Gensokyo to begin with can't have been easy, and then there's the concern of invasive foreign species, too..."

"Are _any_ of them real?" Reimu interrupted and slumped over her knees, suddenly feeling even more weirdly torn up about the whole mistletoe thing.

"Some people call the Serissa bonsai a 'Christmas rose'." Yuuka noted. "Those aren't too uncommon around here. The holly and mistletoe, though? Fake."

Reimu stared up at some sudden fireworks, which seemed to be starting a second round. "Damn... sorry if sitting here under this hunk of plastic is making you uncomfortable."

"Your concern is appreciated," Yuuka chuckled to herself, "but you, Reimu, always make for interesting company. So I do not mind."

"Then..." Reimu smirked sheepishly to the side at Yuuka. "Before you go, I wanna ask you why people see Christmas plants as a big deal."

Yuuka couldn't help but hold back a snort of laughter as she peered at Reimu's peculiarly wistful expression. "People? Sanae is possibly the only person in Gensokyo who does. It's important to be honest with yourself, Reimu. You wish to know what these largely symbolic pieces of plastic mean to Sanae?"

"Sanae thinks it's a big deal 'cus the Outside World does. Just answer, okay?"

"All right." the flower youkai huffed a laugh to herself and shut her eyes gently.

"Let's see... in the language of flowers, fir means time. Appropriate for an evergreen tree, but even trees that seem to stay green forever still fall victim to time eventually. Plastic ones... not so much. If you're curious, pine means hope or pity - and it truly is a pity that people continue to confuse them with fir trees."

Reimu couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, you're actually pretty funny."

"Humour is an important skill for the long-lived." Yuuka chuckled again. "Holly means domestic happiness, which is why people hang it on the doors of their homes in this season... Christmas rose means to relieve someone of anxiety... perhaps you could do with some of those, Reimu?"

Finally giving Yuuka a defensive pout, Reimu lidded her eyes and sighed. "Just... tell me about mistletoe, already."

"See? Being honest is good for you, Reimu."

"Out with it!"

"Hmm? Mistletoe's meanings are world-famous, even to those who are unfamiliar with floriography. Affection, to overcome difficulty... you seem strangely stressed this festive season, Reimu. Maybe some mistletoe will help you, too?" Yuuka tilted her head to the shrine maiden again and smiled sweetly.

"Even if it's a piece of plastic?"

"If her intention is to send a symbolic message, as mistletoe so often is, do you think whether it's real or plastic really matters, Reimu?"

Reimu's face reddened as she sat up straight and clenched her fists over her deep green Santa dress. "W-what do you mean _her intention_!? G-get back to explaining the meaning of mistletoe already-!"

"Kiss me." came a sweet and all-too familiar voice from behind Reimu, sending heat shooting up Reimu's spine and into her head. "I told you earlier, right?" Sanae tilted her head innocently and smiled, shuffling her boots around in the snow. "It means 'kiss me'."

"S-Sanae!?" Reimu blubbered, "H-how long were you there for?"

Sanae awkwardly rubbed her bare shoulder and grinned. "I just got here, but look!" she poked a spot above her head, vaguely between herself and Reimu. "Mistletoe again? Are you trying to tell me something, Reimuuu~?" she grinned playfully.

But Reimu suddenly stood up, red in the face, her fists balled by her sides. "Wh-what the hell! That _definitely_ wasn't there before, did you do this, you flower youkai!?" she shouted aside to Yuuka.

Sensing the peaceful moment had abruptly ended, Yuuka shuffled to her knees and began to fold away her blanket. "Heavens no. I'm not a fan of those plastic flowers, personally."

Turning away from Yuuka, Reimu darted her eyes around the sky. "Hey, whoever's out there trying to mess with me or get me wrapped up in some weird matchmaking scheme, come out and fight me coward!"

"So... you really don't want to kiss me, huh Reimu?" Sanae smiled awkwardly, staring at Reimu's feet and fiddling with her own hands.

"Tch." Reimu's head was so hot and nervous that her hair felt like it was standing on end. Was someone trying to get a rise out of her? Was Sanae mocking her? Wasn't tonight supposed to be fun!? People just kept _messing_ with her!

"I-I... I gotta go, see ya later Sanae." Reimu hid her beet-red face from Sanae, too scared to look the beautiful green-haired shrine maiden in the eyes, and stormed off.

Sanae stared at her own feet now, as a meek whimper escaped her mouth. Out of curiosity, Yuuka peered at Sanae's face. The shrine maiden appeared to be almost on the verge of tears, biting her lip.

"I-I'm uh... I'm sorry you had to see that, Miss Yuuka." Sanae muttered politely, turning away from Yuuka and facing towards the party again. "I should go make sure the guests are having fun."

Yuuka stood up and brushed down her dress, giving her parasol a little twirl. "Indeed, it's the wrong time of year for young people to be so stressed, isn't it?" she smiled.

"What's that supposed to mean... I'm fine." Sanae tried to convince herself, covering her eyes with her red-gloved arm.

The flower youkai giggled gently to herself. "It's funny... I was just telling Reimu that even though all these plants are lying about being plants, the feelings you put into the messages of this evening are real. Don't you think you'd be less stressed if you were more honest too, Sanae?"

Sanae's mouth hung open as she wiped her eyes and stared after Yuuka, who had already begun to make her way back down the mountain for the night.

* * *

Reimu firmly clutched a cup of sweet punch in her surprisingly warm hands. The sugar rush had helped somewhat to distract her confusing mood, but she was _definitely_ avoiding Sanae at this point.

Artificial mistletoe to pressure people into taking artificial, meaningless kisses. On top of that, celebrating a Christian tradition at her rival's Shinto shrine while clad in green. The more Reimu thought about it, the more it all sounded like a bad joke.

But she didn't leave. This was important to Sanae. Everyone, besides her, was having fun. She didn't want to be a 'Grinch'. She would stay strong and continue to help poor Sanae out in her own way. Just... alone.

It was then, sulking around the quiet sides of Moriya Shrine's brightly lit main building, that Reimu heard what sounded like some heated voices... was someone planning on starting trouble? There were human kids here... they wouldn't dare, surely!?

"...want you two to think long and hard about what you tried to do tonight. You must strive to find peace within yourselves, rather than try to disrupt the peace of others." Reimu heard. She jogged around the corner to see a tall woman in a long black and white dress... ah, the long, wavy, light brown and purple gradient hair gave her away instantly. Reimu raised a curious eyebrow.

Byakuren Hijiri, the head Buddhist monk from Myouren Temple, appeared to be lecturing a warmly dressed woman with light lavender-coloured hair, as well as a shorter girl with ice-blue hair and a blue and white dress.

"I-I keep trying to tell you..." the lavender-haired woman, a yuki-onna youkai named Letty Whiterock, sighed in exasperation at Byakuren. "I never intended to cause any trouble, I was actually trying to stop this one from causing any. Please do not associate me with her."

"You don't have to lie anymore, Letty." the smaller girl, Cirno the ice fairy, nodded solemnly and patted Letty on the back like an old comrade. "The gig is up."

"It's 'the _jig_ is up'." Letty corrected, her eyes lidding.

"It's okay..." Cirno ignored. "It's okay to admit that you were plotting with me to fill the punch bowls with snow so we could have cool pink snow to play with and so all the humans didn't have any more punch to drink..."

"I-I wasn't! I never agreed to help you! Please don't listen to her, Lady Byakuren!" Letty irritably rubbed her temples and grimaced.

Byakuren clasped her hands together and peacefully nodded her head. "I love all youkai and humans equally, Miss Letty, but I mustn't allow you to pull pranks on humans like this."

"Pranks are _below me_ , I-!" Letty raised her voice, then hunched over and sighed. "I'm just going to go somewhere else and enjoy myself peacefully. Please don't follow me, Cirno."

Cirno blinked perplexedly at Letty, before her expression relaxed again, "Ahhh, I getcha." she put her fists on her hips, "Please don't follow me Cirno, WINK, WINK, right?"

"No!" Letty flew into the sky above the shrine building, intensifying the light snowfall above Cirno and suddenly bringing down a large heap of snow onto the poor little fairy's head. "I'm serious! Just go make fruit popsicles out of the punch or something without me, okay!?"

A light turned on in Cirno's eyes as Letty flew away. "Letty you're a _genius_." she clasped a fist to her palm and frantically darted off in the direction of the punch - but not before Reimu could effortlessly grab her by the scruff of her top.

"Hey, don't cause any trouble for the nice human families or I'll kill you again, okay?" Reimu smiled pleasantly down at Cirno, then set her down on the ground and ruffled the troublesome fairy's hair.

Cirno stared up at Reimu with pleading eyes. "Please just one punch popsicle? _Pleease_!?"

"Just make sure you leave some actual punch for the kids." Reimu ordered, "In fact, if there are any kids crazy enough to want popsicles in this weather, make some for them too."

"I'm gonna be _RI_ -"

"For _free_." Reimu asserted, fists steadfast on her hips. Cirno grumbled to herself as she flew lazily over towards the punch table, her excitement very much dulled.

Byakuren giggled as she approached Reimu. "Masterfully handled as always, Miss Reimu."

"Eh? Oh." Reimu was actually more concerned about what Byakuren was even doing here, this kind of minor youkai intervention was something Reimu just did without thinking nowadays. "Sure, I guess. What are you doing here, Byakuren?"

Byakuren began to head back to the shrine grounds, staring at Reimu with a curious expression. "I was feeling festive. Plus, I think this is a marvellous way to spread joy to both humans and youkai, you know? I'm almost ashamed I didn't come up with something like this myself first."

Reimu was now even more confused. "Uh... but Sanae told me earlier that she initially asked Unzan to dress as Santa, but said you uh... w-weren't interested in Christmas. So I guess I'm just a little surprised that you've changed your tone."

"Sanae said that?" Byakuren raised an amused eyebrow. "Curious, I haven't spoken to her at all lately."

They both briefly glanced over to where Sanae was stood. She was near the food and drink tables, awkwardly trying to stop Cirno from taking too much punch.

"I think this event is a wonderful idea, though! I'd actually like to try dressing Unzan up as Santa to try to lure guests into Myouren Temple." Byakuren raised a hand to her mouth and chuckled, as a calculating grin spread across it. "Then, we could spread teachings about Hoteiosho, Buddhism's own jolly, gift-giving holiday figure..."

Reimu lidded her eyes. Partially at Byakuren's deviousness, but mostly at her own increasingly exasperated confusion with Sanae.

"So... She lied to me, then." Reimu stared down at her boots and anxiously clenched her fists. "Why would Sanae lie to me about something like that?"

It had taken the preoccupied Buddhist monk until now to realise that the shrine maiden was surprisingly distressed this evening. Her eyes widened and she gently set a hand on Reimu's shoulder, smiling kindly. "I don't know, Reimu. It doesn't seem all that complicated to me. Look at her, and think about it."

Reimu darted a look at Byakuren's thoughtful smile before staring hesitantly over to Sanae. The green-head was now standing awkwardly by herself at the food and drink table, twiddling her thumbs, staring at her feet, stood next to a messy pile of used fireworks that she had diligently picked up from around the shrine grounds.

Guests would stop to wave at Sanae, and she would politely wave back with a kind, festive smile on her face. The moment they moved on though, her expression would sink again.

"You both compliment each other so perfectly tonight." Byakuren hummed to herself, giving Reimu a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "For her to make that kind of flimsy fib? It sounds to me like she was trying not to seem too obvious that-"

"... That she actually just wanted me, and me specifically." Reimu interrupted, her eyes widening slightly in dumb realisation as she spoke.

Byakuren nodded warmly, smiling tenderly as a light blush scattered across Reimu's face. Feeling a gentle shove on her upper back, Reimu began to walk towards Sanae.

Now that Reimu had stopped thinking about her own uneasiness for just a moment, Sanae's behaviour throughout the night... not just the invitation and matching outfits. Her eccentric invasive body language. Her weird 'flirtiness'. Her downtrodden reactions every time Reimu had wormed away from the mistletoe. It all made sense. It all made _way_ too much sense. It almost seemed too obvious to be true. Too _good_ to be true.

The evening drew on, bringing in more frigid winds. The cold weather worked wonders at keeping Reimu's face red, conveniently hiding how furiously she was blushing at her realisation.

A hopeful realisation, sure, but that wasn't important right now.

What was important was that Sanae wasn't _messing_ with Reimu. Sanae had been trying to spend time with Reimu all evening, and Reimu had been 'Grinching' it up!

"Sanae." Reimu said assertively as she arrived at the table. Despite everything, she was genuinely calm.

Sanae meekly turned to look at her, her lonely expression noticeably brightening. "Oh, Reimu! Having a nice evening?" she awkwardly tilted her head, her long green hair trailed adorably over her shoulder.

"It's good, I think everyone had a really great time." Reimu nodded. "But most of the guests have left already, so now that I'm freed up I wanna make sure _you're_ having a good time too." she grinned, holding out her hand invitingly.

"U-uh..." Sanae looked at Reimu's hand with a blush, but hesitated and smiled sheepishly. "I'm fine, Reimu. I don't want to keep you from anything important."

"Then don't keep me from doing this." Reimu insisted and shook out her hand again. "Let's take it easy for the rest of the evening and have some fun together, okay?"

A delighted, relieved smile slowly warmed across Sanae's sweet face, making Reimu smile in return. The green-head finally nodded and happily took Reimu's hand. "All right, Reimu... that sounds good."

...

After wandering around the shrine together for around half an hour, talking about nothing in particular, trying out all the punch flavours, playfully asking Kanako 'Santa' Yasaka for tons of gifts, and regrettably eating some mostly-cold and soggy fried chicken, Reimu and Sanae were walking quietly along a snowcapped bank near the edge of the shrine grounds.

The view over the rest of Gensokyo from here was as incredible as always, and it was about time for the third and final set of fireworks to start going off.

"Oh yeah, Sanae." Reimu suddenly remembered as they walked past an artificial Christmas tree. "Why is all the Christmas stuff plastic, anyway? N-not to say it sucks or anything, it's just a little strange for you."

Sanae giggled and held her hands behind her back, looking up at the tree. "It was a tough decision. It's kind of a shame, but in the end it mostly came down to price."

"Price?" Reimu raised an eyebrow. "So... no issues about invasive species or anything? From... you know who."

"I wondered that too." Sanae smiled sheepishly. "But she, uh... Yukari, I mean. She actually sounded pretty keen on the idea of doing the whole Christmas thing properly, and was happy to go into the Outside World to buy things for me..."

"But the price."

"Yeah." Sanae nodded and shrugged her shoulders. "Moriya Shrine had some decorations stored away from when we lived in the Outside World, but the trees, the other plants, the KFC..."

Reimu raised a confused eyebrow. "U-uh... 'KFC'?"

"O-oh!" Sanae laughed in realisation. "KFC is this fast-food chain in the Outside World that does fried chicken and stuff. Japan's Christmas Eve meal of choice! Pretty commonly, anyway."

The confusion faded from Reimu's eyes again and she nodded. Sanae had always loved watching Reimu's earnestly interested expressions when she learnt about Outside World things.

The green-head grinned awkwardly as she continued. "A-anyway uh.. it was expensive, and it all came out of Moriya Shrine funds. I'm glad everyone had fun, but... now I'm kinda worried that the artificial plants and stuff were just a misfire that made my own enthusiasm come across as fake too... ahaha..." she forced a stiff laugh and averted eye-contact from Reimu, rubbing her arm.

Reimu sighed, feeling a small twinge of guilt.

Moreso than Sanae's weird lies and behaviour, she resented that she hadn't taken at face value how much this all meant to Sanae earlier.

She neared Sanae's side and nudged her towards one of the trees. "Look... I don't get this Christmas thing, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel some kind of fun warmth when I look at all these colourful ornaments, these lights, and the, uh..."

Suddenly, the final set of fireworks for the evening started to go off.

"Yeah, that." Reimu laughed. Sanae snorted in disbelief at Reimu's timing, and the two laughed together for a few moments.

"M-my point, Sanae." Reimu rubbed the back of her head clumsily. "Is that you'd have to be even more ignorant about the Outside World than I am to not see how earnest you've been about this tonight, and I - wh- _whoa_ -!" Reimu's voice wobbled as she suddenly caught her foot on a particularly thickly caked slab of snow on the ground, knocking into Sanae and shoving the shocked green-head a few feet.

"U-uh... whoops, sorry."

"A-ahh..." Sanae buckled her steps a little bit, but ultimately managed to keep her balance. "Don't worry, I'm okay!" she assured before bursting into surprised giggles, and brushed down her red dress. "Uhm, how about you?"

' _Perfect._ ' Reimu thought to herself as she grinned at Sanae's awkwardly sweet smile.

"I'm not okay just yet, but I'm about to be." Reimu said firmly as she carefully stepped over to where she had pushed Sanae.

"U-uh...?" Sanae tilted her head, showing confused concern. A bright, red-faced and embarrassed smile spread across Reimu's face as the green-clothed shrine maiden pointed to a branch above Sanae's head.

Seeing Reimu's finger pointing, the pace of Sanae's heartbeat ramped up way too quickly before she even got a chance to look above her, at the mere _thought_ that there could be-...

No time to panic or confirm her suspicious, Sanae felt a hand assertively grip her wrist, another hand gently cradle her head, as Reimu's lips pressed eagerly against hers.

And Sanae relaxed. And she relaxed even further as she felt Reimu relax too, gently sliding her hand from Sanae's wrist to hug Sanae's hip, delicately cupping Sanae's jaw, before gently pulling away and fluttering an awkward, but earnest stare of affection into the green-head's glistening eyes.

An excited grin took over Sanae's face as she eagerly pointed at the mistletoe above them and leapt back onto Reimu, throwing her arms around her tightly and pressing their lips together again. Finally, _finally_ giving Reimu the passionate kiss she had been wanting to share with her all night.

Reimu reciprocated by cuddling Sanae close as they kissed, running a hand tenderly through Sanae's long green hair.

Finally coming back up for air, the women giggled and shared a mutual exchange of warm smiles and fuzzy, fascinated glances.

"S-so you... like..." Sanae stared down at Reimu's green dress as she awkwardly held Reimu's hand.

"Y-yeah... and I'm guessing you...?" Reimu rubbed the back of her head awkwardly with her free hand.

"Yeah..." Sanae's voice squeaked clumsily. Hoping she could salvage Reimu's image of her after that weird squeak, she continued. "I-I was trying to catch you all night, but I ended up worrying that fake mistletoe just wouldn't do the trick."

Reimu snorted and affectionately pecked Sanae on her cute, warm forehead. "Well I uh... I thought about it, and realised that whether or not it's real didn't change your intentions. I did kinda wish you'd have just told me normally,though..."

Sanae pouted and tugged Reimu by the hand away from the tree, towards the fireworks display. "It's hard! I'm not good at confessing to people so I thought this may be easier."

"And it wasn't." Reimu smirked.  
"Shut up." Sanae giggled sheepishly.

The matching shrine maidens, suddenly feeling more comfort in the private affections of each other's company, opted to spend the rest of the evening sat on the bank, watching the finale of the clumsy yet beautiful fireworks show.

A red-dressed Sanae was sat awkwardly on a green-dressed Reimu's lap, her arms around Reimu's neck for support. The ground was cold, but Sanae was warm... so Reimu didn't really mind. It was especially pleasant when Reimu felt Sanae squish their faces together, or carefreely kiss Reimu's cheek.

"Merry Christmas, Reimu." Sanae hummed, happily kicking her legs around as Reimu huddled her stomach close.

"You think so?" Reimu lazily responded. "I guess it was pretty nice, yeah."

Sanae blinked, confused.

"... Oh." she realised. "It's a saying. You're supposed to say 'Merry Christmas' back. Or 'Happy Holidays'."

"Oh." Reimu accepted. "Merry Christmas, Sanae."

For another few quiet minutes the couple stared, captivated, at the fireworks lighting up the sky, illuminating their contrasting Christmas colours.

"Soo... what do you think about Christmas again next year, Reimu?" Sanae chirped, nuzzling Reimu's cheek hopefully.

"I... I think I'd be up for it, actually." Reimu relaxed into Sanae's cuddle. "Just promise you'll be more assertive next time you catch me under the mistletoe."

"If you kiss me again, right now, you have yourself a deal." Sanae mumbled, affectionately nudging Reimu's jaw with her nose.

Reimu held a green-gloved finger delicately to Sanae's chin, and Sanae relaxed, facing her.

Without a sprig of mistletoe in sight, Reimu and Sanae sunk willingly together into sincere, romantic kisses.

* * *

"*Ah-he-he- _hem_.*" Letty Whiterock cleared her throat. A relaxed smile spread across her face as she floated atop a Christmas tree, overlooking the calming party.

 _"'Twas the night before Christmas,_

 _And at Moriya Shrine?_

 _Plastic trees everywhere,_

 _It was truly sublim-"_

" **NO!** " Cirno suddenly screamed loudly in Letty's ear, "We're not doing that! Poetry is boring! That one is overdone!"

The poor yuki-onna whimpered, as she clasped her hands over her ears.

* * *

 **x**

* * *

 _Glossary:_  
 _tengu: a goblin-like youkai, often anthropomorphic crows_  
 _karakasa obake: an umbrella youkai with one eye and a long tongue. In Touhou, karakasa obake are simply tsukumogami of an umbrella._  
 _tsukumogami: a type of youkai born from a tool or object that has been inhabited by one of Shinto's myriad gods_  
 _yuki-onna: means 'snow woman'. A dangerous youkai associated with winter and snow._

 _Cameo mentions:  
Doremy Sweet: A baku youkai with power and influence over dreams and the Dream World. She wears a red hat with a white bobble on the end._  
 _Hatate Himekaidou: A tengu journalist who runs a newspaper that rivals Aya's. Her camera looks like a flip-top cell phone._  
 _"Wicked hermit woman": Seiga Kaku, a Taoist hermit who has been known to dress up as Santa and rob human villagers._  
 _Kanako Yasaka: The primary goddess housed at Moriya Shrine with power over winds. Something of a parental figure to Sanae._  
 _Unzan: A cloud spirit who works with Ichirin Kumoi, a Buddhist at Myouren Temple. Unzan has a long, flowing beard and his ability to change shape or size makes him very useful for creating attractions._  
 _Hina Kagiyama: A pestilence god who gathers and draws misfortune from humans. This also means being near her causes misfortune._  
 _Marisa Kirisame: A mischievous human magician, and Reimu's best friend since childhood._  
 _Yukari Yakumo: A powerful youkai and sage of Gensokyo. One of the few characters in Touhou who can travel freely between Gensokyo and the Outside World._

 _ **(Notes:**_

 _ **Four Touhou stories in one year! This is the shortest and most lighthearted of the bunch, but I'm really happy with it.**_

 _ **I took some creative liberties to emphasise certain aspects of the story, such as saying Aya's photos were in black and white for the theme of the colourful outfits, or saying there were no nikko fir trees in Gensokyo when there may well be in canon.**_

 _ **I thought this story would be a great opportunity to write popular characters that hadn't come up in my writing so far, like Sakuya, Yuuka and Cirno. I had a lot of fun writing all of them despite their relatively small roles, so I'd love to be able to write them again someday.**_

 _ **I've spent a lot of time over the last five months trying to put into words how cute Reimu/Sanae is as a couple to me, so it's a little melancholic to say that this is the last time I'll be writing them for a long time :( )**_

 **WHAT'S NEXT:**

 _- **"Crush (on) Your Rival"** will continue to receive weekly updates until it's complete. It's 8 chapters long._  
 _- **"Erika - Part 2"** , A return to the Pokémon story I put on hold in early 2018. It's an emotional character-driven retelling of the time between Red/Blue and Gold/Silver, from Sabrina's PoV._  
 _\- My **next Touhou story** , which I hope to start once I've finished working on Pokémon. I have a good idea for a more emotional plot-driven story about Reimu (and Yukari)._

 _Thank you to everyone who's followed my stuff throughout the year. I've learnt a lot about my writing, and my Yukari fic ended up being a surprisingly big hit._

 _Still, I think I stressed myself out over fic writing too much since it's still fairly new to me. I think in 2019 I'm going to slow down a little and aim to upload chapters once every two weeks instead of every week, at least until I have a large backlog._

 _I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, and a happy new year!_


End file.
